Hot And Bothered

Stone Sour are currently touring in Europe, making their way through the UK from Feb 19th. A regular visitor to a Stone Sour fan site, 'Miss Bella' went to see the band play in Germany recently, and had the following words to share afterwards:

February 12th, 2003
Stone Sour live at the Elserhalle, Munich, Germany
by Miss Bella

I got out of school half hour early, so I was home at 2:30 PM to use the restroom and all that. We left that house at 2:45, my parents and I. We stopped by the store to get drinks. Then, we were on our way to Munchen. We listened to the CD on the way there. The whole trip was about 3 hours! The whole time I kept biting my lip. I was so excited and anxious!! I couldn't wait!! I knew this would be mindblowing.

I got together greetings from some fans and friends. I put these in a folder along with my message to the band. I decorated the folder with the date, a photo of them, and the name in elegant handwriting. This folder did not leave me side once. I made sure I took photos of it so when I get those developed, you can see them!

Well, we ate at McDonalds at about 5:30 and left there at 6:00. We walked over to get a taxi to take us to the Elserhalle because it was just too damned cold to walk that far! So, we got there at like... 6:30 max. We stood outside with all of these people. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY SLIPKNOT TSHIRTS IN MY LIFE! Honestly, I was rather disappointed. I just... Everywhere I turned I saw SLIPKNOT!!! Well, out of the crowd, out of the doors, James comes walking decked out in a heavy jacket and beanie. My mom stood open mouthed. I told her, "That's who I met in Prague." She was amazed by how big of a guy he was! I just stood there and laughed and watched as he walked down the street to the gas station, I think is where he went. Somewhere out of the crowd, Joel shoved his way inside.

It was about 7:00 when we were let inside. People filed in, we got checked, people checked in their bags and whatnot. I kept all of my stuff with me. I took one roll of film, as my mom only let me, so when those get developed, you will see!!! I bought a Stone Sour tshirt first. Then, I dragged my parents right up the railing. They were a little unsure about it, thinking that it would be an incredibly roudy crowd. I told them it wouldn't, not at the least.

So, we're standing here, and I see Josh walk out of the door and into this empty little club we're standing in. I pointed him out to my mom and walked over to him. I noticed him limping so the first thing out of my mouth was, "What happened?"

"Huh?" Josh asked.

"What happened - you're limping!" He kind of laughed and said, "I've been limping for a while. I'm planning on having it operated on when we get back home." I nodded my head and made small talk as people started coming up to him. In the midst of it all, I felt guilty! I just drew all these people up to him!

"Sorry!" I exclaimed. He told me it was alright.

"I have something for you, stay right here." I ran off to my stuff with my parents and grabbed the folder and my journal book. I got the journal book signed and handed it off to my dad who went back to the railing.

"This folder, I put it together. It was various messages from fans on the board and LiveJournal. And then here is my message to you guys." He took it and was like, "Wow." I asked him if he ever came to the board.

"I don't post or anything - I just check it out every once in a while to see if people are talking stuff." We both laughed. Josh had rolls of posters in his hands.

"Are those for sale?" I asked.

"No." He said. I was a bit bummed out. Well, we started talking more about just various things.

"Ah, I'll give you a poster, come over here." I couldn't believe my ears! This incredibly sweet guitarist gave me a Stone Sour poster!! I didn't have a chance to see it clearly yet, but I got a glimpse of an autograph on there! Well, we started talking about the poster he wanted to take, explaining to me that he has one from every place they've been - I think. The only difference is the bottom of them, though. I thought this was the cutest thing! He told me had a really cool gigantic one from a Subway. Such a doll!

"Have you been sight seeing anywhere yet?" I asked.

"I plan on going out tomorrow. See, I really like collecting the vinyl record players. I want to get some imported ones." I told him about my collection in Abiline, Texas. They're nothing all that spectacular, just Queen and stuff, but I love 'em. I also told him about the stacks of Elvis ones we have.

"You can make big bucks off of those!" He said. We both laughed. He told me how he really likes Metallica and how he has boxes of Metallica things and records.

"I like old Metallica. People seem to look at me like I'm crazy since I'm a 16 year old girl living in the modern times who likes old Metallica and Slayer and Anthrax." I laughed a bit and then looked at him.

"Are you as shy as people tell me?" I asked.

"I don't do too well infront of large crowds."

"I know how that is!"

"See, right now I'm okay!"

"I know... If you were to see my face I'd be blushing like crazy!"

"Well, I'm just as nervous as you are!!" Such a sweet guy. I went on to tell him how amazing of a band Stone Sour is and how just incredible the music and everything is. He dug in his pocket and handed me a pic! A GUITAR PIC!! I got so excited. My eyes were huge and I just mumbled, "Thank you!" Like an idiot. Someone called him for the Meet and Greet backstage? I don't know. Before he left though, I said one more thing.

"Can you do me a favor? Tell Corey that Bella is here, from the board. He promised me something and... I really... It's just important."

"Yeah, sure, I'll tell him." He smiled. I wanted to just hug him real quick! But I didn't. Oh well. I walked back over to my parents and stood, pointing out who various people were and people with wacky hairstyles (IE: guitarist of Saliva - poinytail on his head! Very Daron Malakian!)

Finally, the band Raging Speedhorn came on. They kind of blew me away because they're so loud and in your face and we were right infront of the speakers. Every now and then I got into the beat and started head banging. I knew a couple of their songs, so it was all good.

During their show, I saw Corey walk onto the corner of the stage. I pointed him out to my mom. He was decked out in his trademark Jack beanie. Lookin' so huggable with his hair pulled back!

"He is so amazing." I said to my Mom. She looked at me like, "Whatever." She wasn't too ecstatic about coming. In fact, we were going to be right out of there before they ended! I was a bit upset, but at least I got to see them!

Well, I started looking around and looked back to Corey. He waved at me. I waved back and he made a fist - like his trademark thing, you know? My Mom saw it and still wouldn't believe in the promise he made me! I was just on the verge of screaming!

Then Corey rocked out and just started head banging like a lunatic! His beanie flew to the ground somewhere and I just stood there trying not to giggle. Raging Speedhorn kicked much ass on the last few songs they played.

There was the interval, which I ran to the bathroom for. Then after the stage prep, Saliva came on. I was telling my Mom how they weren't too bad and kicked some butt. I only knew a couple of songs and was praying in my heart that they would play a certain one. Well, they come out with "Click Click", which was pretty cool. Here is the list of songs they played:

The song "Always" was the one I was waitin' for. I love that song to death and they just rocked it out like crazy. It was awesome! I never realized Josey Scott was such a big guy! People kept givin' them a hard time and throwing things. He had a great voice!! My Mom and I were both impressed, so that's a good thing.

Finally, he ended up telling the "pussy guys" who were saying things to them to come on up there. Then during one of the last songs he began to undo his fly. I was so ready to just run away!! My Mom stood there laughing at me because he really wasn't going to do anything! I thought he was, it's just how I've read about him... Don't always believe what you read I guess? (Er, in this case - believe it all. LOL)

I grabbed the set list for their show. Well, during their interval, I hit another bathroom break in which I puked. I had made myself so fuckin' excited I just blew chunks. I stood there for a few minutes trying to regain composure. Then I noticed my lip was lookin' weird. I had been biting on my lip so much that it is now swollen. I have a fat lip. Looks like I got punched in the bloody face!

I walked out of the bathroom and this man walked past me with long hair and a long black jacket. 'That guy looks very vampire-like.' passed through my mind. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned. It was Josey! I figured he'd be too pissed to even listen to me tell them they were great, so I walked off. I caught sight of one of the guitarists - tall lanky guy with long black beautiful hair - and stood around waiting to talk to him. These two German guys were yappin' his ears off. It was quite a spectacle as everytime he made a move to listen to me, the guys started talking louder and faster. Finally, I just left because I was afraid of my good spot being taken.

Well, I stood there for the good amount of five minutes. The intro came on, which was pretty cool. The band members began to filter onstage, lights were going off. Corey came walking out of the shadows with that bloody jacket on, blue jeans, and a white wife beater. His head was down, hair in his face, dripping wet. My Mom looked a bit scared for a minute, but he flung his head back at the beginning of "Get Inside", and she just gasped. They kicked ass. Everyone in the Elserhalle was singing this song!!! I was amazed at that!

A couple of times, Corey caught my eye and waved or winked or smiled. I was feelin' like I was floatin' on cloud #9. My Mom saw it a couple of times and asked my Dad if He saw it. I was feelin' special, yep yep! Well, after that, they wasted no time in exploding into "Orchids". I love this song and shed a couple of tears during it. Every now and then throughout the whole concert, Corey kept making faces at Shawn and Josh - who were standing right infront of us!

Corey talked for a few minutes, telling us this next song was going to take us into, "the mind of a madman." I knew exactly what it was and lost it for a minute. I got so emotional. Just watching the way he sang the song, facial expression, emotions in his eyes and on his face - it overwhelmed me. They didn't stop the music, instead, changed it right into "Cold Reader"! I love this song, so I was jammin' along.

And the crowd did not miss a beat!

Afterwards, he began talking and people started to chant, "Take A Number". I was feelin' like these people were psychic because, low and behold, that's the song they sang! Then, Corey introduced the next song as not being on the album. "Rules of Evidence". Now, I knew it sounded familiar and it is the beginning of "Dead/Weight"! I totally rocked out to this, it kicked ass. They split into "Inhale". This song made me shed more than a few tears. I couldn't control it. Just too fabulous.

And they were all oozing of the emotional pulls the music held.

"Idle Hands" and "Choose" were next. "Idle Hands" was just fantastic. Corey sat down on speakers really close to us and people took picture of the faces and such he was making. Such a pleaser. Then, they began chanting "Blotter". AND THAT WAS THE NEXT DAMN SONG!! I was a little weirded out, but hey... I love that song!

The lights went out and came back on to the middle of the stage. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I love this song so much. Corey took the stage by himself and began playing the guitar. It was a "Santana" sounding vibe, and I just stared in awe. He was fabulous on the guitar, of course. Then he stopped and spoke into the mic.

"This song is dedicated to Miss Bella." My Mom gasped, I looked at her, she looked at my dad and I looked back up at Corey. I started crying my eyes out. He sang the song the whole time with his eyes closed and I just stood there with my hand over my mouth crying my eyes out whispering, "Oh God, oh God... Corey." And I couldn't stop the tears. I couldn't stop crying. It was a beautiful sight.

He looked like an Angel standing there under the spotlight singing this song.

Once he finished it, he held his hand out and I reached up to him. I couldn't touch him, then he put his fist out and I did the same. I showed me his guitar pic and stuck it into his pocket. I knew I was going to get that pic, though.

Then they went into "Blue Study", "Inside The Cynic", "Tumult". "Tumult" rocked my world. I swear I never thrashed so wildly as I did then. And the look on my mom's face was priceless as Corey made those noises!! I just laughed and said, "It's HIM!" So, they finished "Tumult", and the band started walking off. Josh ripped up the set list and handed it straight to me, straight to my hands. People were reaching for it and such, but he put it in my hands.

Corey finished interacting with the crowd and threw his wife beater into it. He hopped down to me and stood at MY height. We stared at each other for a couple of seconds and I reached out to hug him but he grabbed my hand and held on tight for a second, then let go. Inside my hand lay his guitar pic. I was amazed.

I felt like I was on top of the world. I felt like I was special. I cried the whole way home. I was amazed by how much beauty lay inside this being, this band. And the last words my mom said to me before we got in the car were, "He is gorgeous. He is beautiful!"

That, he is, and so much more. And this band is possibly the most amazing band to hit the earth. NOTHING will come close to this night. NOTHING.

Not much we could add to Bella's write up... except to say thanks to Bella for sharing her night.